Ocean Colour Scene frontman Simon Fowler believes Liam and Noel Gallagher’s feud is their "Kinks phase".
The 53-year-old singer was great friends with the warring brothers in the 90s and toured with Oasis on many occasions.
Simon admits it’s sad to see how much they now dislike each other since Noel quit the ‘Go Let It Out’ group in 2009, but he is certain they still have a lot of love for another and he hopes they’ll patch things up one day.
The ‘Riverboat Song’ hitmaker thinks this period for the siblings can be likened to the feud that endured for years between Kinks bandmates and brothers Dave and Ray Davies.
Speaking exclusively BANG Showbiz, he said: "I am pleased to see Liam back, he’s a brilliant frontman. Although I like his new stuff I am still one of those people that would love to see them get back together. It’s a shame that they don’t like each other much these days and it is genuine. They probably love one another but don’t like each other very much, it’s a classic brothers’ thing. They’re go by through their Kinks phase now, they’ve had their Beatles phase and now they think they’re the Kinks!"
Simon was convinced that the Manchester Arena bombing last year would see Liam, 45, and Noel, 51, put aside their differences and reunite for the people of their home city, but that never happened as Liam performed at Ariana Grande’s One Love Manchester benefit concert on his own and Noel did not appear, instead donating all proceeds made from his song ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ to raise money for the victims.
Simon said: "I thought if anything would then it would be the bomb in Manchester, but it didn’t. I think one day it would be nice to see on stage together again. But I would say that they both seem to be happy so that’s important."
Simon is getting ready to perform in Knebworth again at the ‘Cool Britannia’ music festival this August, 22 years after Ocean Colour Scene supported Oasis at their legendary concerts at Knebworth House.
The indie rocker admits he has little recollection of the two shows but can remember being very nervous to play to 250,000 people each night in 1996.
He said: "Bloody hell, is that how long it’s been, 22 years? I have to say I don’t remember a great deal about it actually. I remember feeling petrified on the side of the stage just before we were going on and Steve’s dad Chris Craddock, who our manager at the time, gave me a cine camera. I said to him, ‘How do you use that?’ And he went, ‘Just press that button and point.’ So I grabbed hold of it and walked up to the front of the stage and filmed the crowd and they all went nuts for that, and that let me lose my nerves. I remember everyone singing along to ‘The Day We Caught The Train’ and that was great, I mean we were pretty big then we were probably the second biggest band in England at the time, behind Oasis, so it was a great day.
"I don’t remember a lot about that day at all actually, it could be something to do with all the partying for the last 30 years!"
Ocean Colour Scene are headlining the event along with the Happy Mondays and they are joined on the bill by Britpop bands Cast, Space, The Lightning Seeds and Embrace, and Simon admits it will be great to play with all their pals.
He said: "Cast are our mates, Embrace are great lads too. It’s nice being chosen to be the headliners, it’s a very good line up though so anyone could have headlined. We’ve got to make sure we go out and do the business."
‘Cool Britannia’ takes place over the weekend of September 1 and September 2 and you can go to Coolbritanniafest.com for more info and to buy tickets.
Simon Fowler says Liam and Noel are going through a Kinks phase
